Not Applicable.
Not Applicable
The present invention pertains to farm machinery, and, more particularly, pertains to an animal drawn cart for pulling farm implements and which is capable of height adjustment so that the distance of both the cart and the attached farm implement can be varied with respect to the ground.
Agricultural productivity has dramatically increased partly as a result of the wide variety of farm implements available for planting, cultivating, and harvesting the diversity of fruits, vegetables, and crops that are grown on farms for sustaining human life. By utilizing such farm machinery as combines, harrows, reapers, separators, and threshers, for example, contemporary farmers can achieve yields per acre for the crops they cultivate that far exceed previous generations. Even when the above described machinery is pulled by draft animals, such as horses or cattle, crop yields can still be obtained that surpass former times.
However, there are a number of considerations when using farm machinery pulled by draft animals that the farmer or operator must pay careful attention to in order to safely and efficiently use the farm machinery or implements, and control and direct the draft animals. Of primary concern for the operator is maintaining the stability of both the farm implement, and the cart or platform to which the farm implement is attached, as both are being pulled across and over a field during farm work so that damage and injury to the draft animals, operator and machinery can be minimized or avoided. The various carts and platforms on which the operator sits to direct and control the draft animals are subject to tipping over during field work. This is of especial concern when the implements attached to the cart are being raised, as, for example, when the operator has reached the end of one row and is raising the farm implement while the entire working unitxe2x80x94draft animals, cart, and farm implementxe2x80x94is simultaneously being turned in the reverse direction to proceed down the next row.
Thus, a long standing need exists to provide a cart or work platform that maintains its stability throughout the process of raisingxe2x80x94and subsequent loweringxe2x80x94of the farm implement, is attachable to the draft animal in a safe and mechanically efficient manner, and to which a variety of farm implements can be quickly and easily attached and detached.
Two-wheeled, horse-drawn, operator seated plows or corn planters, including facility for raising and lowering the plow or corn planter are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 211,662 to Hunt, and U.S. Pat. No. 473,413 to Bering. The Patent to Bering also has a wheel-chain-sprocket arrangement for dispensing seeds from a container via wheel rotation.
The present invention comprehends work carts or platforms that are attachable to and drawn by draft animals, and, more particularly, comprehends a farm cart or platform attachable to draft animals and to which farm implements can be attached whereupon both the cart and the farm implement can be selectively raised and lowered as a unit throughout the field work.
The height adjustable farm cart of the present invention includes a pair of main frame members that extend upwardly from the respective wheel axles of the cart. Mounted on each main frame member is an upper sprocket and a lower sprocket with the lower sprockets being coaxially mounted to the wheel axles.
Disposed on the main frame members, and capable of being raised and lowered thereon by the operator, is a work platform. The work platform includes a pair of intermediate frame members, and each intermediate frame member encompasses and is slidably mounted on each main frame member for movement up and down on the main frame members. Mounted to each intermediate frame member are a pair of intermediate idler sprockets, and the idler sprockets move with the intermediate frame members during the raising and lowering of the work platform. A continuous chain is disposed on each pair of idler sprockets and each set of upper and lower sprockets, and the chains are actuated for movement thereon by the rotation of the wheels. Both the intermediate frame members and the main frame members have pin-receiving holes and apertures that can be brought into alignment by the upward movement of the intermediate slidable members on the main frame members whereupon pins are inserted therethrough thus locking the intermediate frame members to the main frame members and maintaining the work platform in the raised position. The pins are retractable for unlocking and releasing the intermediate frame members from the main frame members thereby allowing the intermediate frame members to slide down on the main frame members so that the work platform can be disposed to the lowered position.
The work platform includes an operator""s seat for the operator, and the raising and lowering of the work platform is initiated and controlled by the operator""s manipulation of a brake pedal and a pin-releasing pedal. The brake pedal actuates the raising of the work platform on the main frame members, and the pin releasing pedal actuates lowering of the work platform on the main frame members by causing the retraction of the pins from the respective intermediate frame members and main frame members.
In order to avoid injury to the animal, the cart includes a raised drawbar that projects from the work platform and is securable to the draft animalsxe2x80x94normally horsesxe2x80x94above the area of the legs of the draft animal.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a work cart that can be easily and quickly attached to one or more draft animals and that can be selectively raised and lowered by the operator during field work.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a work cart to which a variety of farm implements can be attached and detached.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a work cart that allows the operator to set and then change as needed the lowermost position of the work cart.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a work cart wherein the work cart and the farm implement can be raised and lowered as an interconnected unit.